The Sohma Game
by The Girly Man
Summary: Akito Sohma has always found a way to interfere with the lives of the Juunishi. Now, even in his death, he has left his biggest test of all: The Sohma Game. The only question is... will the Sohmas survive? [[COMPLETE]]
1. Surprise

**Credit given where needed to Ellen Raskin's 'The Westing Game' and Natsuki Takaya's 'Fruits Basket'.**

**The Sohma Game**

**The Girly Man**

**Chapter One: Surprise**

"Akito? Akito-san?"

Hatori Sohma was puzzled as he walked around the main house one night. "Akito? Where are you?"

Hatori thought it strange that Akito didn't answer. It was time for Akito's medicine, and instead of rushing to the door like he normally did, Hatori needed to search for him? What also seemed strange was that none of the Main House workers were… working. It was only 9:30. Why would Akito have sent them home already?

"Akito-san…" Hatori sighed, looking in a few open doors. This was getting a little too weird for him.

Hatori pushed open a door and recognized it as 'Yuki's Room'. As the electricity had been taken out of the room years before and it was pitch-black night, Hatori had to take a matchbook out of his breast pocket and light a match to see around the room. This was quite difficult task while carrying the cup of medicine at the same time, but he managed. He moved the match slowly around the room, calling Akito's name. For some reason, a strange feeling erupted in his stomach.

He arrived at the corner of the large, empty room and tripped over something on the floor against the wall. Catching his stumble, Hatori turned around and brought the match closer to the floor in curiosity of what he just tripped over.

At first he thought it was just a kimono, but remembered that he had tripped over something _hard_. He touched the kimono and drew his hand back quickly. It was not only a kimono. There was a body in the kimono.

A _dead_ body.

Stepping over the body, Hatori held the match close to the face to distinguish who it was. He gasped and almost choked on his sharp intake of breath. It was at that precise moment that he noticed the large envelope in the hand of the corpse. Quickly, he took the envelope and ran out of the room.

Outside the door, Hatori blew out the match and discarded it onto the floor. Inside the envelope were packets and packets of papers. Too shocked to pay much attention, he read through the first paper and returned it to its spot in the envelope. He left the empty house and ran out of the estate and down the street to his cousin's house.

Yuki Sohma also had a strange feeling in his stomach as he returned home from his night walk. It was an indescribable sensation, like the sensation of finally defeating something that had been in your way; the sensation of overcoming a particularly difficult obstacle…

"Welcome home, Yuki-kun!" Tohru happily greeted him as he walked through the front door and hung his winter coat up.

"Hello, Miss Honda," he said slightly uneasily as he unlaced his shoes and walked into the living room. Sighing, he sat down on the couch next to Shigure.

"It's snowing pretty hard out there, huh?" Shigure gave Yuki a pleasant smile. Yuki returned his smile with a forced one, shrugging.

"How come you were gone so long, rat?" Kyo grumbled from across the room.

"No reason. I was out for a walk," Yuki told him.

"Are you hungry? I could make some ramen or—"

Tohru was cut off as the front door burst open and the four flinched at the loud noise.

"Who—" Shigure started, but it was only Hatori.

"Shigure…It's…It's…" Hatori gasped, clutching the large envelope in his hand and waving it around.

"Hatori, calm yourself! Now, let's have Tohru make you some tea and relax. You look like you've just run a mile!" Shigure laughed, not expecting anything wrong. Tohru stood up to get some tea from the kitchen, but Hatori sat her down again. The four stared at Hatori as he caught his breath and began to speak.

"Akito Sohma is dead."

Such a stifling silence occurred in the room that Yuki felt as if he couldn't breathe. Shigure opened his mouth to say something, but chose not to and closed it.

"How do you know?" Kyo asked. Although it was a stupid question, nobody else was saying anything and the silence was killing him.

"I went to the Main House to give him his medicine… and I found him in Yuki's room…dead…"

"What's that envelope for?" Shigure wondered.

Hatori looked at the envelope as if he had forgotten he was holding it. "It was in his hand."

Paying more attention to it then the last time, Hatori took out the first paper and read it. At the bottom of the page—written in Akito's own handwriting—were a telephone number and a foreign name.

"Are we supposed to call that number?" Shigure asked, reading over his friend's shoulder.

"I think so," he answered. Still shaking, Hatori crossed the room and picked up the phone close to where Kyo was sitting.

"No!" Yuki shouted, and the whole room turned to stare at him. "I mean… don't you think it's kind of suspicious? You don't even know who it is."

"Please stay out of this, Yuki," Hatori mumbled, but couldn't help thinking that Yuki was right. He dialed the number that was scribbled at the bottom of the page and waited. It rang twice before somebody answered.

There was no proper greeting or 'Hello' or anything. Just:

"So you've found the envelope."

"Um… yes… do you know what has happened to Akito Sohma?" Hatori asked, his voice shaking.

There was a laugh from the other end. "Of course I do."

"Sir… what is your name?" Hatori asked. Tohru, Shigure, Kyo, and Yuki were all staring holes through him.

"Sam. Sam Kohatio," Sam pronounced it like 'Co-Ha-Show,' and just by the way he said it Hatori could tell he was very full of himself.

"Alright… what are we supposed to do now?" Hatori asked.

"I've already taken Akito-sama's body away. What I need for you to do now is alert all of the Juunishi, including the cat and the girl."

Many questions buzzed around in Hatori's head. Akito-_sama_? Why would this completely random man call Akito 'Master'? And how did he know about the Juunishi? How did he know about Tohru? How could he have known Akito died, and already taken his body away?

"How did—" Hatori started to ask his questions, but Kohatio interrupted.

"All will be told in time, my dear. Now tell all of the Juunishi to meet in the Main House tomorrow night around 7:00. I would advise you not to read the rest of the contents of that envelope also. Good night to you, Hatori dear."

Sam hung up and so did Hatori, feeling much more confused then he had a few minutes previous.


	2. Welcome To The Sohma Game!

**Chapter Two: "Welcome To The Sohma Game!"**

Sitting on the opposite side of everyone else in the dimly lit room, Rin Sohma looked around at the other 11 people surrounding her. She really had no idea why she was here—or why there was a coffin in the front of the room—but the message Hatori had left on her cell phone had seemed pretty urgent. Sighing, she decided to count the ceiling tiles to pass the waiting time.

Closest to Rin was Hatsuharu Sohma, who was also wondering what the purpose of this spontaneous meeting was. Eyeing all of the other anxious people in the room, he began to get a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. Why was he here? He chose to avoid the Main House as much as possible. But like Rin, it was Hatori's urgency that had made him so curious. Getting rather bored, he chose to spend the time staring at Rin.

Momiji Sohma was sitting on the floor at Haru's feet, bouncing up and down in anticipation. Surely, something big was happening if all of the Sohmas were invited. Maybe they were having a party? He did not know. His head buzzing with ideas, he closed his eyes to try to relax.

On the floor next to Momiji was Ritsu Sohma, who found himself too unworthy to sit in the chairs provided. He spent the waiting time wondering why he was worthy enough to be asked to come. He buried his face in his hands.

Annoyed by the presence of his strange "family", Hiro Sohma sat next to Ritsu with a scowl on his face. He felt he could be doing something more important than sitting densely in a room full of people he didn't like, such as watching paint dry, folding socks, or watering the lawn—in the middle of winter. That coffin was getting on his nerves…

Kisa Sohma wished that Hiro would stop scowling, because it made her feel even more uncomfortable. She could tell that something bad was going to happen, just by the look on everyone's faces. The coffin didn't really suggest happiness either. She looked around. Everyone was there… except for Tohru, and whoever they were waiting for.

In the chair behind Kisa sat Kagura Sohma, who was looking around aimlessly. She did not particularly _care_ why she had been forced to attend the day's collaboration. She was just upset that she couldn't sit by Kyo. She frowned as she picked at her blue nail polish.

Ayame Sohma sat between his fellow Mabudachi members—Hatori and Shigure—with his brother, Yuki, and the cat, Kyo, on the other side of Shigure. Ayame was expecting no more than a family reunion, being the only one of the five who did not know the real reason why they were there. Hatori sat up straight, facing forward, with the envelope in his shaking hands. He knew why they were there, of course, but he did not know what the whole family was waiting for. Shigure paid no attention to any of his surroundings, but instead played with Ayame's precious hair. Yuki wrung his hands nervously, occasionally looking up at everyone but avoiding eye contact. Kyo sat with his arms and legs crossed, wondering what the heck was taking so long, and where the heck Tohru had disappeared off to.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Tohru flung the door open and ran in breathlessly, muttering something about how she was sorry she was so late.

"Where were you?" Both Kyo and Yuki asked her at the same time as she sat down on the ground next to Kyo's chair.

"Oh," she panted with an almost sham smile. "I was—"

Her reply was left unheard as the door opened again with an elongated, drawn-out creak. 13 heads turned to the door to see who had come in.

Kureno Sohma stood in the doorway, wearing an utterly sinister smile on his face. He took a step forward, and for a second, Tohru was afraid that he would sit next to her, but he instead crossed the room and leaned against the wall near Rin's seat.

For a final time, the door opened and the Sohmas—including Tohru—were startled after being distracted by Kureno's entrance.

A short young man walked into the room with an air of arrogance in his steps, and stood at the podium next to the coffin at the front of the room. A bushy black mustache obscured the majority of his face, and his equally bushy black hair, although topped with a white top hat, was as untidy as if he had just jumped off of an airplane. He had a very crisp, clean, white suit, and looked like one of those men who had just too much money for their own good. With a smile as maniacal as Kureno's former, he addressed the crowed of anxious people.

"_I_," he started with such a booming triumph that many people flinched, "am Sam Kohatio-san. And _you_ are here for one reason and one reason only. Your God, Akito Sohma, has been murdered."

Sam gestured toward the coffin and watched the Sohma family gasp in shock with an expression that Hatori couldn't help but define as _pleasure_. Hatori decided that he had been right. This _Kohatio_ fellow was just as stuck up as he had let on in their phone conversation.

In the shock of this news, nobody really seemed to wonder how Sam Kohatio knew Akito was their 'God', or to wonder how Kohatio knew Akito _at all_.

Nobody wondered why, or even noticed for that matter, that Kureno was smirking and chuckling at the news.

"It is very sad, indeed," Kohatio continued. "But what is even sadder is that one of the 14 beautiful Sohmas seated in front of me is the murderer."

Everyone started a mass uproar at this, except for Kyo, who was narrowing down who he thought it was mentally, Hatori, who was surprised, but said nothing, Kureno and Yuki, who kept their mouths shut for the good of everyone, and Rin, who stood up and pointed a thin finger at Tohru.

"Why is she here? She's not even a Sohma!" Rin shouted, and Tohru looked terrified.

"Why is Kureno here? His curse is—" Hiro started, but Ritsu covered Hiro's mouth and began blaming himself for Hiro's outburst of the curse in front of a total stranger. Kureno just smirked.

"Do not worry, children of the Zodiac. Akito-sama has informed me of your most unfortunate curse. Before his death, of course," Kohatio assured them.

"How did Akito have time to tell you all of this if he was… killed?" Hatsuharu said slowly, staring at Kohatio with an evil eye.

"Akito-sama was left notes, _threats_ if you will, by the murderer in advance," Kohatio explained smoothly. "He called me last week and filled me in on the events of everything."

Kohatio met eyes with Hatsuharu. There was something about the beetle black eyes Kohatio had that made fire pierce Hatsuharu's heart… He felt like he was falling…

He looked away, and the strange feeling was gone.

"How did you know Akito?" Hatori blurted out.

Kohatio gave Hatori a pleasant—but fake—smile that made Hatori feel a pain in his head. "I have known Akito-sama since I was a young boy. Our mothers knew each other, you see… but that is not important right now. What is important right now is the information you hold in your sweaty hands, Hatori dear."

With an aggravated glare, Hatori handed Kohatio the envelope. The room was filled with an oppressive silence nobody had the courage to break. Kohatio opened the envelope slowly, savoring every moment of anxiety. That was just the kind of person he was. He enjoyed bringing people awful news.

"You sit in the seats before me as cursed people, feeling you have no purpose in life. But under the greatness of Akito-sama, he has formulated a way that you can remember and treasure his memory long after his mortal being has left our beautiful planet. Akito Sohma-sama has devised _The Sohma Game._"

Momiji felt a smile come to his lips amidst all of the horror. He loved games!

Everyone listened quite cautiously.

"You will live in this Main House for the next few weeks, using your mind and a few clues to figure out which one of you Sohmas—yes, Isuzu, Tohru is not a Sohma—is the murderer.

"You will not be alone, however. Akito-sama has arranged three responsible individuals to act as detectives to help crack this case! Let me introduce you"—Kohatio opened the door and allowed two people to enter the room. Yuki took a sharp breath of air and Ayame looked at his brother worriedly—"To Ren and Rini Sohma. Ren, as you may know, was dear Akito-sama's mother. Rini Sohma is the mother of Ayame and Yuki."

Everyone stared at the two brothers for a minute before Rin broke the hush. "Where's the third? You said there were three people."

"Dear Isuzu, _I,_ Sam Kohatio, am the third! Now, we three will escort those who need to be escorted home to collect a few assets for the next few weeks. Nothing big, just clothes and essential supplies. We will reassemble here in one hour. Is everyone ready? Well then…

"Welcome To The Sohma Game!"


	3. Deadly Pairings

**Chapter Three: Deadly Pairings**

An hour later, the 14 participants filed back into the stuffy room, followed by Ren, Rini, and eventually Kohatio. Keeping their belongings close by, everyone sat in the same spot they had been in an hour ago.

"Now," Kohatio clapped his hands as a signal for everyone to calm down. "We return our attention to the envelope.

"Our dear friend Hatori found this envelope in the dead hand of Akito-sama just last night. This envelope contains the information you need to continue on this adventure. It contains the clues you will need to move on, the directions of the game, and, possibly most important, Akito-sama's will. His will is the directions of the game, the clues, hints, guides, and secrets to success...

"As you know, the object of the game is to find out who murdered Akito-sama. What you don't know is that, just like any other game, there is a prize for the winner."

Another uproar occurred, excluding those who thought this game was a waste of time.

"The prize," Kohatio shuffled a few papers around, "is… liberation of the curse (if it applies to you), the Sohma Estate, and… five million dollars."

Now everybody was interested in participating. Kohatio pulled a red piece of paper out of the envelope with an evil smile on his face. "And now I shall assign your partners."

"PARTNERS?"

Most everyone was surprised and a little upset. They had all been under the impression that they would be working alone.

Kyo sighed in anger. He had already been planning on how he would spend the money.

"Yes, partners. Your partner will be your best friend. You will live with your partner and work as a team. You can only share your thoughts of the game with your partner and your partner only. I will explain more later on.

"Now then… our first pair is… Kyo and Hiro."

"YOU'RE JOKING!" the first pair of partners said as they stood up at the same time.

"I'm not bein' partners with that brat!" Kyo exclaimed. He didn't really care that he was spitting everywhere.

"Surely you read the wrong names or something…?" Hiro suggested. "You don't really expect me to be with him?"

"No, it says right here in Akito-sama's own handwriting. No arguing. Kyo and Hiro, you will be assigned to the first room on the left side of the second floor…"

Hiro glared at the stupid man.

"What can't you think up partners yourself? Why can't we choose our own partners? Why do you need to read them off of a paper? Do you not have a brain? Without that paper, would you be completely lost? Does your whole life revolve around that paper? What if it said you had to kill yourself? Would you listen? Would you—"

"Hiro, stop, before I tell everyone your middle name."

With a grunt, they both gave up trying to argue and sat down again.

"The next pair listed is… Kisa and Kagura, who will be in the room across the hall from Hiro and Kyo."

Kisa was pretty much happy with being Kagura's partner, but couldn't help being a little disappointed. She had wanted to be with Hiro, Haru, or Onee-chan. She gave Kagura a weak smile, which Kagura returned unwillingly. Kagura had wanted to be with Kyo.

"Next up is… Shigure and Momiji, in the room next to the kitchen."

Shigure gave Momitchi-chan a high five and Momiji smiled the biggest smile he could. He was thinking about how fun the next few weeks would be. Being partnered with someone as great as Shigure _and_ being assigned next to the kitchen! It was almost too good to be true!

"Well then… the next pair is Hatsuharu—"

Haru's face lit up. Rin hadn't been picked yet. He crossed his fingers furtively, thinking over and over _Rin… Rin… Rin…!_

"—and Ri—"

Haru felt himself smile.

"—tsu. Hatsuharu and Ritsu in the first room of the first floor hallway."

Haru's face fell miserably and he uncrossed his fingers. "_GOMENASAI_!" Ritsu shrieked. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I was chosen to be your partner! This must be the worst day of your—"

"Please be quiet, Ritsu," Kohatio commanded before Hatsuharu could agree that yes, it was the worst day of his life.

"In the room across from where I will be staying, the room closest to the stairs on the first floor, Isuzu and Yuki."

"_WHAT?_" Rin screeched. Yuki was also slightly upset, but too nervous to say anything. The room closest to the first floor stair case… that was 'his room'. The room with no electricity and the black walls. The room Akito was killed in.

Yuki swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"What did I say, Isuzu? No arguing."

Hatori looked around at the other three remaining: Ayame, Kureno, and Tohru. He could tolerate being partnered with Tohru, or even Ayame, but surely not Kureno. There was just something about Kureno that gave Hatori the creeps. He was also worried for Tohru's sake. If she was paired with Kureno, there was no telling what would happen.

"Next to Kagura and Kisa's room, we'll have Ayame and… Hatori, meaning Tohru and Kureno will be in the room at the end of the second floor hall."

"NO!" Hatori, Yuki, Kyo, and Ayame shouted, all afraid of what Kureno might do to her, all except for Aya, who just wanted to deepen the bond between him and his brother and had forgotten that Yuki was already called. Hatori and Kyo had already narrowed Kureno down as the murderer.

Tohru, in opposition, looked frightened, but also somehow looked like she had been… _expecting_ the news.

"Is there a… _problem_?" Kohatio asked, raising his exceedingly large eyebrows.

"Um, I'll be Kureno's partner, and Ayame can be with Tohru…" Hatori suggested as Yuki and Kyo silently fumed.

"My apologies, but what's written down is what goes. Surely you wouldn't want to flout your _God's_ wishes?"

Hatori gritted his teeth back and forth to keep from ripping the overly large mustache off of Kohatio's face.

"Now that that's over, you will head off to your rooms. Tomorrow morning you will be given your first clue, and other information. Off to bed, all of you! I bid you good night!"

The 14 individuals, or 7 pairs, stood up and gathered their belongings. Yawning, they trudged out of the meeting room and went their separate ways to their temporary bedrooms in their most ominous temporary home.

-+-

"Where the hell is the light switch?"

Rin's temper had gone up even more by the time she and Yuki got to their room. Every little thing made her angrier and irritated.

"There… There's never been electricity in this room, Rin. I thought you knew that," Yuki responded almost calmly as Rin threw her pack onto the floor. It skidded across the span of the room and landed meticulously right next to the wall.

"And why would I know that? Why would you know that?" she demanded, but it dawned on her only after she saw the expression on Yuki's somewhat ashamed face shining from the light in the hallway. Feeling slightly embarrassed, she muttered something about going to find candles and charged out of the room.

Yuki stepped inside and closed the door inattentively, dropping his own pack and cursing Akito with all of his weak heart. Yuki had promised himself he would never return to this place as long as he lived, but once again, Akito had screwed everything up… Even when he was dead.

_Why do we have to subsist like this? Why do we have to do everything he says, even in inscription, when he's not even around anymore to chastise us if we don't?_

Yuki couldn't help but decided that—somehow—_she_ had a hand in this. _She_ would do everything she could to make sure his life was hell…

Although it was nearly pitch black in the room, Yuki could still see outlines as the moon reflected the snow through the window. Of course, there weren't many outlines to see: just the wooden floorboards, a nailed-in-the-wall candleholder, the old, musty window curtains, and he and Rin's packs. Nothing else. No beds, no dressers, no sign that existence was possible in this torture chamber. But there also was that door, the one he had never opened. Not the door to the hallway, but a mysterious door he had never before had the courage to open. Slowly, he neared the door and reached for the handle…

"Candles!" Rin grumbled, kicking the door open using her high heels with a armful of large candles.

"Alright," Yuki said in a droning voice, slightly snapping back into reality as he watched an additional person file into the room behind the horse, carrying a battery powered lantern and two sleeping bags.

"This room… brings back memories, doesn't it?" Rini Sohma sneered, throwing the sleeping bags on the floor and shoving the lantern into Yuki's hands while trying to look pleasant. "They _might_ have beds for you by tomorrow, but I don't guarantee it so don't get your hopes up. My room's down the hall… but you won't be needing me, will you?"

Yuki shook his head and his mother left without a good bye.

"They better have frickin' beds for us by tomorrow…" Rin grumbled, taking her shirt off as she spoke to change her clothes.

"Uh… Rin… I…" Yuki started, turning away in an attempt to give her privacy.

"Oh get over yourself," she snapped, pulling a pair of sweat pants on. "You're so retarded…"

Yuki, who was getting more and more uncomfortable by the second, placed the lantern between their two sleeping bags and crawled into his own without changing. "Goodnight, Rin," he said after a while, but Rin was already asleep. Trying to ignoring his fear and, even more, the cold, Yuki forced himself into sleep also.

-+-

"So who do you think the murderer is?"

Kyo looked at Hiro angrily as he sat down on the bed in the middle of the room. "I'm not telling you!" Kyo snapped, but only sounded angry because Hiro had gotten the bed by the window. _He_ had wanted the bed by the window…

"We're on a _team_ baka neko!" Hiro retaliated. "It's not like you'd be _cheating_ if you told me your suspicions."

Kyo sighed and turned the bedroom light off. "Kureno," he told the little brat, laying down on the bed and pulling the comforter over him.

"Yeah," Hiro agreed, doing the same. "I thought either him or Hatori."

"Why Hatori?"

"Well, I mean, Hatori found the body and the envelope, didn't he? He was the first one to find out."

"But he was bringing medicine for—"

"I think that's all talk, I mean it's a great cover! And what about Kureno, eh? I actually kind of feel bad for Tohru. Did she tell you why she was late to the meeting thing?"

"No… why? Do you know?"

"Yeah. I heard her telling Kisa on the way upstairs. Turns out _Kureno_ held her up in the hallway for a chat."

"About what?"

"Well… I don't know that part. She wouldn't say. I just think… we should probably keep an eye on Tohru, huh?"

"…yeah. 'Night, kid."

"'Night, baka neko."

-+-

_"To make this work, you're going to do everything I say. You'll know what I'm talking about in a minute… but let me just say… that I know who murdered Akito, and they will not be very happy about this little meeting, especially since you're here. All I'm saying is to be very careful. Never go anywhere by yourself, and obey my every command. By the time this 'game' is over, someone else may be killed."_

_"Why… why are you only telling me this?"_

_"I'm telling you to try to protect you, okay? There's some strange stuff in this house. You're the most vulnerable person here. Just trust me. Now, go…"_


	4. The First Clues

**Chapter Four: The First Clues**

Sam Kohatio was the first to wake the next morning. Retrieving the large envelope from under the clothes in his wardrobe, he emptied out the contents on his bed. There were seven envelopes, already sealed and addressed to the recipients. The envelope contained their first clues. He taped them to the Sohma's doors, mysteriously chuckling the whole time, and returned to his room long before sunrise.

-+-

Hatsuharu woke next. Bored, he decided to take a walk around the large house. Leaving Ritsu muttering something in his sleep, Haru opened the door and stepped out into the hall.

Stretching briefly in front of the door, Haru noticed the envelope.

_Hatsuharu and Ritsu Sohma_

_Clue #1_

Since it was addressed to him as well, he sat down on the floor and quietly opened it. Four small papers fluttered out, and one paper, larger, was left inside. Gathering the papers that had floated around, he read the note quickly.

_Dear Participants,_

_Here is your first set of clues. Each word is on a separate piece of paper, so you do not confuse one word for another. Obviously, the words are no longer in order, but in some cases, order is not important. _

_Sharing your clues is entirely up to you, but why would you want to aid another Sohma to win the prize? _

_Think hard about your clues. Your next set will be presented to you some time next week._

_As for partners, you may not abandon or trade with anyone. No exceptions! You have been assigned for a reason!_

_Be aware! Beware!_

_Yours Truly,_

_Akito Sohma_

Hatsuharu put the letter aside and focused on the four slips of paper now.

_Get A Rat To_

_To what?_ Haru wondered. He mixed the words around, but none of the combinations made sense. He decided that maybe the next week's clue would help. Shoving the papers back into the envelope, he decided he would ask Yuki later.

Yuki was the rat, after all.

-+-

"Hey Kyo! Check it out!"

Hiro was on his way to breakfast when he noticed his envelope. It was addressed to Hiro and Kyo Sohma, respectively, with 'Clue #1' written under it.

"What is it?" Kyo rolled over to face the door from his bed.

"Our first clue," Hiro told him as he locked the door. "It was taped to the door outside."

"Open it," Kyo commanded, sitting up and trying to comb down his mess of hair with his fingers. Hiro sat down on the end of Kyo's bed and opened it between them.

Kyo read Akito's letter aloud as Hiro stared at the puzzling clues. "So what do we have?" Kyo asked, and looked down.

_Long The First Banquet_

"Well, that doesn't make any sense," Hiro mixed up the words into different combinations.

_The Long Banquet First_

_First The Long Banquet_

_The First Banquet Long_

"None of those make sense," Kyo decided. "We need a longer sentence. What the hell about the stupid banquet?"

"Maybe we have to think about that story… the one with all the animals going to that banquet," Hiro suggested.

Kyo shrugged it off. He hated that stupid story. "Or maybe other people have the end of our sentence."

"Yeah, but nobody's going to want to share their clues," Hiro pointed out. "Unless… we force it out of them."

Kyo thought a moment and a smile came to his face. "You know, kid, maybe you're not such a bad partner after all."

Hiro nodded as he tucked the clues safely under a pile of his dirty clothes. "We're going to win this estate, baka neko."

Kyo smirked and both of them headed down the stairs to breakfast.

-+-

"WAKE UP, TORI-SAAAAAANNNNN!"

Hatori didn't really appreciate Ayame's decision to be his alarm clock, but got up anyway.

"Oh Tori-san, I miss Gure-san SO MUCH! Isn't it upsetting that the whole Mabudachi Trio couldn't be together?"

"Well, we're only allowed groups of two…" Hatori shuffled into the room's attached bathroom and began combing his hair, wondering if Ayame and Shigure were ever going to give up that little high school "group" they had.

"This game is _boring_! When will it be fun? Aren't games supposed to be _entertaining_?"

"I don't know, Ayame," Hatori sighed. Could Ayame act any more immature?

"You know, I'd prefer if you called me Aya."

"And I'd prefer if you didn't call me _Tori-san_."

"I can't call you Tori-san no more?"

"_Any_ more. No, anything but. Please."

"So I can call you Mr. Snuggle-Pants?"

"No!"

"But you said anything but Tori-san!" Ayame giggled, choosing to approach the situation like a child.

_What else is new?_ Hatori thought, and chose to give in. "_Aya,_ could you please leave so I can change my clothes?"

"Okay, Mr. Snuggle-Pants!"

Ayame laughed heartily and left the room, slamming the door on the way out as he planned how he and Yuki would spend the day.

Hatori shuddered and sighed. These next few weeks were going to be… he didn't even want to think about it.

He was almost done tying his tie when Ayame burst back into the room.

"Look, Mr. Snuggle-Pants!" he screeched. He was waving a folding piece of paper around, and in doing so, five small scraps of paper fluttered to the ground.

Hatori took the paper from him as Ayame picked up the fallen ones. It was a letter from Akito, concerning the clues. Rolling his eyes, Hatori crumpled the letter up and threw it over his shoulder. He didn't need any dumb clues. He didn't need this dumb game at all. He was positive he knew who the murderer was already.

"Haha! Look how simply _amusing_ Akito is!"

Ayame had arranged the five papers in order to form a choppy sentence:

_God Sneaky , Think More_

Hatori rolled his eyes. How humorous. Akito had given him the dud clue, _and_ the dud partner. Hatori could tell when he was being mocked.

_After all I've done for him…_ Hatori thought as he snatched up the papers with one hand and shoved them into his pocket, not saying a word for much of the remainder of the day.

-+-

"Shii-chan! Shii-chan! Somebody sent us a letter!"

Shigure took the envelope from an excited Momiji and dumped their four paper slips on the floor, discarding the letter unintentionally, without reading it.

_You The Animals There_

"What does that mean?" Momiji was confused.

"I don't know. Maybe we have to narrow down everyone who was at the Main House on the night Akito died."

"Or maybe it means that _we_ were the ones at the Main House when Akito passed away!" Momiji suggested.

"Why don't we think about this later? I'm hungry."

Leaving the pieces on the floor, they went next door to the kitchen, leaving their door open with the pieces in view from the doorway. It didn't occur to Momiji that the words could be moved around. Perhaps it would have occurred to Shigure, or even Hatori, that their clue was not a clue at all, but neither cared enough to analyze the situation further.

-+-

"So what do you think our clues mean?" Kisa asked Kagura as they scrambled some eggs in the kitchen for breakfast. The four words were flashing through her head like a neon sign:

_Rat Is Our Any_

She didn't know what order the words were supposed to go in. They didn't make sense to her, and Kagura didn't feel like discussing them the moment they had gotten them. Kisa didn't really want to discuss them at all. All she wanted to do was go home. This murder mystery was not to her liking.

"Well, obviously it has something to do with Yuki," Kagura decided. Kisa shrugged and looked around. The entire house—including two of the three detectives—was in the kitchen, except for five other people: Hatsuharu, Rin, Yuki, Kureno, and Tohru.

"Where did you put the papers?" Kisa asked her. Kyo and Hiro nonchalantly walked passed the two girls.

"In my skirt pocket," Kagura answered.

In unison, Kyo wrapped his arms around Kagura and Hiro around Kisa. "What are you doing?" Kisa asked, suspicious.

"Giving you a hug," Hiro told her as if she were the dumbest person in the world. "What? Can't you accept a simple gift?"

Kagura—as Kyo and Hiro's plan had intended—was so distracted by the fact that Kyo was showing her a sign of affection that she didn't notice as Kyo reached into her skirt pocket and stole the four slips of paper out of it.

"I love you, Kagura," he lied, letting go of her as he hid the papers in his fist. Hiro smirked and let go of Kisa, chuckling at how much of a ditz Kagura was.

-+-

Yuki woke up far later than everyone else in the house, which was no real surprise, but was still awake before Rin. He found himself staring at her delicate face, which was not very far from his. He stared at her beautiful features, completely forgetting how much trouble he was in…

Rin was also awake, just not opening her eyes. She was going to lay there as long as possible, trying to convince herself that she was not in the Main House, this was all a dream, she was going to wake up in her own room, and she had not just slept a whole night on the floor in the same room as that stupid rat…

Yuki was startled out of his unfamiliar thoughts of Rin when he heard the sound of a doorknob jiggling, as if somebody was trying to get into the room. Rin opened her eyes and Yuki sat up. They both noticed where the sound was coming from: the door that Yuki had never opened.

The door opened.

Rin let out a yelp and grabbed onto Yuki, pulling him down next to her as a large, black figure emerged into their room.

"Am I… interrupting something?"

Hatsuharu was confused and slightly upset to see his favorite cousin on the floor next to _his_ crush.

"Ack!" Rin yelped, and she and Yuki shot to opposite sides of the room, realizing how strange and… _wrong_ it might have looked, being entangled like that on the floor…

"You know, I don't care if you were… you know…"

"Haru, we weren't! How did you get in here anyway?" Rin demanded.

"My room's next door. I was looking in the closet and saw another door… Our rooms are connected, I guess. Anyway, did you guys get your clue yet?"

"Clue?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah. Your first clue is taped to the door outside."

"Okay, great, Haru. Now get out! Don't use that door anymore!" Rin was still slightly freaked out.

Haru, instead, got the idea that Yuki and Rin actually _were_ doing something private, and stormed back through the closet angrily.

Yuki started to walk to the door to change his clothes in the bathroom down the hall and maybe eat some breakfast, but Rin stood up and slid in his way.

"Umm… what are you…?"

He stopped talking as Rin put her hands on his face. She stared into his eyes as if she were searching for something. A chill went down both of their spines, simultaneously. Without thinking, Yuki brushed a loose lock of hair out of her face and ran his fingers all the way through her long, dark, mane. An odd feeling that was new to him occurred in the pit of his stomach. He almost leaned forward… almost tried to kiss her…

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and rushed out of the room, leaving a mystified Yuki behind.

-+-

"Kureno-san? Kureno-san…"

Kureno turned over and opened his eyes. It was just that Tohru Honda girl, clutching an envelope. "What, Honda?"

_Talk about attitude…_ Tohru thought. She waved the envelope in front of his face. "We got a clue…"

"You're on your own," Kureno told her, standing. Tohru screeched and stepped back. He was only wearing boxers.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"I already _know_ who it is, so why should I help you?"

Kureno left her wide-eyed and alone, and slammed the room's bathroom door.

Tohru was upset. She had thought being partners with Kureno would be okay, but she had also had her doubts. Kureno was just as heartless and mean as she had feared.

She blinked back tears, reading the clues in the envelope.

_Do Ago Held **Trustworthy?**_


	5. Mystery Solved?

**Chapter Five: Mystery Solved? **

"Let's think… who lives, or was at the Main House, two nights ago?"

Momiji was ready to write down anything Shigure suggested. He had already written "Posibul Murdururs" at the top of the notebook paper he was using, being a fan of organization. And although he was a freshman in high school, he still had the measly spelling abilities of an eight year old.

"Let's see… Kureno," Shigure decided, knowing that when he wasn't away, Kureno sometimes lived upstairs; in the actual room he and Tohru were assigned.

"So the murderer is Kureno!" Momiji concluded.

"Well… not exactly, Momitchi-chan. I mean, you and Hatori's house isn't very far from away. Neither is Hatsuharu's."

"It wasn't me!" Momiji was upset that Shigure had even said that.

**KeReNo**

**HaTORy**

**HoTSuyHaRuy**

He wrote down the three names. It wasn't Haru, he was positive, and he didn't believe it was Hatori either.

"May I help?" a voice came from the door. It was Rini Sohma.

"Come right in," Shigure told her. She closed the door and sat down on the floor next to Momiji.

"You're Aya and Yuki's mom, huh?" Momiji was his usual happy-go-lucky self, oblivious to the truth.

"…Yes," Rini smirked as if it were hard to admit.

"Do you see them a lot?" Momiji wondered. "Are they your favorite in the whole wide world?"

"Momiji, that's beside the point," Shigure snapped, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, or make the conversation get ugly. Rini gave a little nod of appreciation.

"So what are you doing?" Rini looked over Momiji's shoulder at the bad spelling and messy handwriting.

"We're making a list of possible murderers by thinking of who was at the house at the time," Momiji explained. Rini nodded in approval.

"I know another," she told them, and took the pen from Momiji. Shigure looked over at what she had written once she was finished.

_**Yuki**_

"Yuki? Your son? How do you know?"

"I was talking to him myself, just moments before the Akito incident," her voice was cool as ice and thick as syrup, "Had a little… _argument_. He seemed pretty angry when he stormed away…

"Anyway, you have a good start. Now you need to find out who else was there, and narrow them down. You guys are lucky I was assigned to help you."

"Are we now?" Shigure grinned.

"Yes… Ren still isn't doing very well after this whole thing, and probably won't be out of her room any time soon, so her assigned pairs are out of luck… and I'm not sure what to think of that Sam Kohatio… he gets on one's nerves, doesn't he?" Rini stood up. "Well anyway, you can call me down if you need anything. My room is right down the hall."

"Rini… do you know who it is?" Shigure asked as she headed toward the door.

"Honestly… no," she lied. "But I have ideas just like everyone else."

After she left, Momiji and Shigure split up, promising to meet back in the room with information in one hour.

-+-

"Kisa, where did you put our clues?"

"Kagura, you said they were in your skirt pocket, remember?"

"I know… but now they're not. Did you take them?"

"No…"

Kisa flung the bedroom door open. She had a feeling she knew where they were.

She attempted to storm across the hallway for more of an affect, but accidentally ran straight into Hatori.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa Hatori."

"Don't worry about it, Kisa-chan."

There was an undeniable hint of bitterness in his voice.

_He seems angry…_ "Grandpa Hatori, our clues were stolen. Do you know where they could be?"

"Sorry, Kisa-chan, but our clues were stolen also."

"So you're looking for them?"

"Yes."

"Where were they last?"

"My pocket."

At the mentioning of his pocket, Hatori absentmindedly put his hand in his right pocket: where he had shoved the clues that morning. His fingers came out farther down his pant leg, and only one clue was in there.

There was a large hole at the bottom of his pocket.

His clues could have easily fallen out.

_And I was blaming Ayame…_

"Somebody could have picked yours up off of the ground?" Kisa suggested.

"Yes," Hatori was too angry to give a proper answer, or offer to help Kisa-chan find her own.

"…I know who has the clues."

Kisa knocked on the door in front of her.

-+-

_The Long Banquet First_

_Rat Is Our Any_

_God Sneaky , Think_

Hiro and Kyo looked down at all of their clues, but couldn't make any sense out of them.

"Rat…" Hiro picked up the paper reading "_Rat_", "and God…" Hiro picked up the "_God_" paper. "Yuki and Akito."

"You think Yuki…"

Hiro shrugged and nodded. "I mean, it only mentions the rat, and God. I thought it was Kureno or Hatori, but there's no rooster or dragon in any of these clues."

Kyo coughed, and in doing so, realized something strange about the middle sentence. "_Rat Is Our… Any_. 'Any' kinda sounds like 'Enemy'."

"It's Yuki. It has to be."

"Yeah! And on the day Akito died he had said he was 'taking a walk!' I can't believe it's actually him and I didn't have to say that just because I hate the damn rat!"

Hiro gave him a high-five as a knock was heard from the door. "Quick! Hide the pieces!" Kyo hissed, and Hiro crumpled them up and sat on them.

"Come in!" he shouted.

It was Kisa and Hatori.

"Did you guys find any clues on the floor… or _in Kagura's pocket_?" Kisa shot a vicious look at Kyo.

"Uh… no…" Kyo lied, making sure they were completely concealed under Hiro's butt.

"Are you sure?" Hatori furrowed his eyebrows. "We don't care if you have them. We just want to make sure so nobody else sees them."

"Haven't got a _clue_ where they could be," Hiro chuckled at his own joke.

"Well… alright. Just… keep an eye out, okay?" Kisa gave up. She and Hatori left the room.

Before they could sigh a breath of relief, Hatsuharu entered the room.

"Hey guys, I was just wondering… do you know who Yuki has a crush on?" he asked with a hint of worry in his voice. He was going to find the answer if it was the last thing he ever did!

_Where is he going with this?_ "I have no idea. Why?" Kyo snapped. "I thought he liked Tohru."

Kyo smiled at how easy it was to cover up his own crush by throwing Yuki in there.

"Does he like Rin?"

"No… I thought they hated each other. Why? What do you know?"

"Nothing!" Haru exclaimed. "So… uh… what's up?"

"We just figured out who the murderer is," Hiro said before he noticed what was coming out of his mouth. "Too bad for you."

"I don't care," Haru replied simply. "Ritsu's a dud partner. Besides, you don't even know if you're right. We've only been living here for… a little bit."

"We're right," Kyo was sure. He didn't want Hatsuharu trying to act all cool.

"Then who is it?"

"It's that damn Yuki!" Kyo blurted, not realizing his stupid mistake until Hiro attacked him, yelling swear words while chasing him around the room.

Haru smiled, an extreme joy erupting inside of him.

Rin would never be in love with a murderer.

He just needed to tell her.

-+-

_Do Ago Held **Trustworthy?**_

"Um… hi, Miss Honda. Do you need something?"

"Yuki… I… is Rin around?"

"No, actually, she's down the hall in the shower. Do you need her?" Yuki and Rin's room was the only one without an attached bathroom.

"No… I need you to help me."

Yuki hesitated, but opened the door for her to come in.

"So… what do you need?" he closed the door.

Tohru began to cry.

"Miss Honda… what's wrong?"

"Kureno won't help me figure out the clues! He told me that he already knows who it is, so I have to figure it out all by myself!"

Yuki looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "It's okay, Miss Honda. I'll help you, I promise I will…"

"He told… He told me that somebody else is going to be _killed_!"

Tohru cried into Yuki's shoulder, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her.

A _hug._

Yuki prepared to be transformed into a rat, but instead, all he felt was a little bit of sickness in the pit of his stomach.

No transformation.

"Tohru… I… I can hug you."

Tohru's tears stopped and Yuki released her.

He was still a human, and now the sick feeling was gone.

"Is the curse broken?" Tohru asked in barely a whisper.

"I… I suppose…"

Yuki embraced her again, and now there was barely any sick feeling.

If his assumption was correct, the curse had only been lifted temporarily as a cover.

If he was incorrect, Akito really _was_ dead, and not hiding and only using the game as torture.

Either way, it saddened him to know that now he could hug Tohru, but all romantic feelings he had had of her had disappeared so recently.


	6. Revealed and the Snow

_**A/N: Ren Sohma slight OOC-ness. Kinda.**_

**Chapter Six: Revealed and the Snow**

Ren Sohma was a strong believer of astrology.

At the times she was supposed to be guiding her two assigned pairs, she instead burned incense in her bedroom and consulted her tarot cards for answers to her every worry. Her horoscope was also of great importance to her. Her room had the only internet connection in the entire house, which she used to read what the day had in store for her.

The loss of her son had shaken her so much that she did not like to come in contact with anyone anymore. It wasn't that she hadn't _wanted_ him to die… it was just that she hadn't expected it so early. She wondered if it was maybe _her _fault. She wondered if it had been planned… if her son had committed suicide. Despite all she tried to change her mind, she loved her son. She did. Deep down inside, there was a love for that child. But _why?_ Why did he have to die before they could meet halfway? The cards never told her.

She kept herself locked in her room except for an occasional trip to the kitchen for a meal or a visit to Rini. She only felt sorry she couldn't be more of a help to Tohru, Kureno, Kyo, and Hiro: the groups she had been assigned to help. But Ren could not find time to help. With the help of the stars and planet alignment, she would figure out the mystery on her own. And then she would cast her revenge.

A week had passed since December 10th, the day of Akito Sohma's death. Ren woke up and a realization occurred.

She had not checked her horoscope on December 10th.

Quickly, she logged onto her computer and read Aquarius's horoscope for the date of last December 10th:

_Something you love will be taken away. The path will be unclear at first, but you will be able to get it back._

-+-

Nobody but three people in the house would speak to him.

Yuki was confused. He though that, perhaps, everyone had found out that he could hug Tohru, and that he was the only one who's curse had been lifted. He thought that maybe he had said something that had offended them.

But he hadn't really spoken to anyone the whole time they had been in the house.

He thought that maybe everyone had found out about his new crush on Rin.

He decided that possibility was the worst.

Sighing, he turned over on his bed. Sam Kohatio had found some old mattresses for him and Rin three days before. Since it was so old, it had a disgusting, dirty, dusty, mold smell. It was also very lumpy and uncomfortable. Even the hard wooden floor was more appealing. It was a miracle how he had fallen asleep the last few nights.

Sam Kohatio. There was something about that guy that Yuki didn't like. Was it his pompous attitude? His annoying habit of constantly being around? Yuki couldn't decide. All he knew was that apart from Rin and Tohru, Kohatio was the only one who still talked to him.

But it was always questions about how he and Rin were doing with the game. _The game._ He didn't particularly care if he won the Sohma Estate or even the money, but he kind of liked everyone living in the house together, especially when Akito was dead. He would've liked it more if everyone wasn't shunning him though…

_**Used The Ox For**_

Rin didn't particularly care about winning the prizes either, but the clues had begun to bother her. She wondered if anyone else's clues had mentioned anyone at the house. She wondered if Akito was just toying with them and these clues meant nothing.

But Ox most likely meant Hatsuharu.

Hatsuharu. She had to stop thinking about him. She had to. She couldn't like him anymore. She couldn't. A randomly chosen Sohma like Yuki was even better than Haru. But why was she doing that? Why was she always flirting with Yuki? Why did she even bother? Why couldn't she just keep to herself and ignore everyone?

She sighed, turning over on her lumpy mattress and coughing a few times. That mattress smelled horrible.

She sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. No matter how hard she tried, sleep wouldn't catch up with her. Something out the window caught her eye, and she had to suppress a gasp.

The snow was almost above the window, and the blizzard was still raging on.

Immediately her claustrophobia got the best of her and thoughts of being buried under thousand and thousands of miles of thick, heavy snow clenched at her heart. Terrified, she stood and padded across the room to Yuki's bed.

"Yuki?" she said timidly, shaking the pile of blankets on the bed.

Yuki was only half-asleep. "Yes?" he answered. He turned over and his eyes met Rin's, his heartbeat immediately increasing tenfold. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't look away…

"I'm… scared!" Rin exclaimed, immediately embarrassed. It wasn't like her to burst out her emotions without thoroughly thinking it out. But it didn't matter to her. She was scared. Yuki was the only other person in the room. And she didn't feel like going next door to Haru.

"What… do you want me to do?" Yuki asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Can I… do you think I could sleep with you tonight?"

Rin was aware of how childish she sounded, but she didn't really care. When she and Haru were still "dating" she would sleep with him when she was scared. But even though she didn't like him, Yuki would have to do. Every moment she wasn't near someone caused images of snow crashing through the windows…

"…sure," Yuki whispered, moving over to make room for her on the old mattress. Rin lay down, resting her arm across his chest and closing her eyes. She wasn't really aware of anything, just how much better she felt now that she knew she wasn't alone. She fell asleep soundly, without knowing that she was sleeping next to the possible murderer. She fell asleep soundly because Haru hadn't had the guts to tell her. Not yet.

And Yuki stayed awake a moment longer, wondering why the sudden change of heart, but kissed her on the forehead and closed his eyes.

-+-

It was Ritsu's turn to discover the closet.

He wasn't tired, and it was midnight. He had no idea what to do, because it was so late and there was no way he could awaked Hatsuharu just because he was _bored._

Instead, he quietly opened the closet door and stepped inside to sit in there so he wouldn't bother anyone. He then closed the door and fumbled around for the light switch. Once he found it, he turned on the naked light bulb and had to wait a minute to adjust his eyes. Once he was ready, he looked around. He didn't know what he was expecting, but all that the closet contained were a few coats and a couple dust bunnies. Sighing, he decided he should get some sleep, and turned to open the door.

There were two doors.

And he could not remember which he had come from.

Ritsu decided to just pick a random door, so he picked the door on his right. His hand found the door knob and opened it slowly.

The room he now entered was lit slightly by a candle that was steadily burning out. Ritsu looked around and his eyes fell on one of the beds. There were two people asleep on it. Yuki and Rin. How peaceful… and how cute they looked, with Yuki's lips on Rin's forehead and her hands on his chest. Quietly, he apologized to nobody for barging in and went back to his room. He couldn't wait until Haru woke up. He wanted to tell him what a cute couple Yuki and Rin made.

-+-

Hiro was always awake before Kyo, but instead lay under his covers the next morning. He was awake, but today, had no intention of getting out of bed.

"Hiro," Kyo poked his bottom to try to wake him up. "Hiro, wake up. We got a new paper taped to our door."

Hiro still didn't budge, so Kyo unfolded the paper and read it aloud.

"_You're wrong. Guess again…?_" he read. "Wait… what?"

Hiro groaned and closed his eyes. Maybe Yuki wasn't the answer after all.

-+-

Only one other Sohma received the paper Hiro and Kyo had: Hatori. After reading his paper, he moaned angrily and ripped it up. So Kureno wasn't the murderer.

But how did Akito know that Hatori would think it was Kureno? Akito was dead. Hatori looked down at the scraps in his hands. It was not Akito's handwriting. He had seen that before. It was much more… feminine.

Shoving the pieces into his hole-less pocket, Hatori wondered if maybe it was time for a visit to Rini Sohma.

-+-

"Sam-san, when will we get our next clue?"

Kohatio looked down at Kisa and Momiji with a fake smile. "Soon, children," he replied, shoving a piece of toast in his mouth and slinking away.

Kisa and Momiji had already finished their breakfast and were bored.

"Hatori!" Momiji screamed across the room but was ignored. Hatori didn't wish to speak to anyone.

"Grandpa Shigure?" Kisa tried, and Shigure pleasantly walked over to them.

"Shii-chan, we're bored!" Momiji whined.

"Go play outside," was Shigure's bored reply.

"But we're snowed in! The doors won't open!" Momiji argued, because he had already considered that a while ago.

Shigure had an idea. He led the two children up the stairs to a large library-type room with a large window. Shigure opened the window and a cool breeze filled the room. "When I was little, I used to jump out this window into the snow. Why don't you do that?"

"Okay!" the children were now less bored. The snow was about six feet deep by then, and they only had to jump a short distance to land in it. Pleased, Shigure left the room as Ayame entered.

After about an hour, the three were soaking wet and once again growing bored.

"I have an idea," Kisa said in her quiet voice. "How about we ask the others to join us?"

Since Hiro felt sick he didn't come, but Kagura, Ritsu, and Hatsuharu (quite grudgingly) came along, and Kyo, Yuki, and Rin to watch.

Yuki and Rin (reluctantly) sat next to each other by the fire place, Yuki reading silently and Rin staring into the fire, and Kyo sat anti-socially across the room. He was still angry about the note on his door that morning, thinking over and over _'how could I have been wrong?'_ He was so angry, he didn't even wonder how anyone found out he thought it was Yuki. Absentmindedly, he thought Hatsuharu had told someone.

But Hatsuharu hadn't told anyone. He stood by the window, frequently throwing angry glares at Yuki and Rin.

"Hey, where's Tohru?" Kagura asked suddenly as she got in the back of the line.

"I don't know," Kisa replied. Something didn't feel right.

"I knocked on her door but nobody answered," Momiji told them, and Ritsu began apologizing because Tohru should have been there, not him.

Upon hearing this conversation, Yuki decided he had finished with the book he was reading. He told Rin that he needed to fetch a book from their room, which she responded to by rolling her eyes when he wasn't looking. Yuki slipped away quickly.

After a few minutes, Rin felt someone pull her wrist and drag her out into the hall, into a coat closet.

"Haru!" she gasped, her face nearly an inch away from his. "What the hell are you—?"

"Rin, listen to me," Haru pleaded.

"Get me out! I'm claustrophobic! I—!"

"I know who the murderer is."

Rin shut up. "Who?" she whispered.

Kyo had not told Haru that Yuki wasn't the right answer.

"Yuki," Haru told her.

Rin had no time to think about this, because at that moment, a scream was heard from the room next door.


	7. Failed Attempts

**Chapter Seven: Failed Attempts**

"ONEE-CHAN?"

Haru and Rin burst out of the closet and tried to see over the crowd that had formed outside of the room next to them. Haru grabbed Rin's hand but she reluctantly hit him away. Disappointed, he settled for standing as close to her as seemed possible.

"Calm down, Tohru… it's alright…" Yuki was whispering softly into Tohru's ear as he held her closely on the bedroom floor.

"Onee-chan, what happened?" Kisa asked softly, trying not to cry.

Tohru could barely stop crying as she looked up at blurry Kisa, Kagura, Ayame, Ritsu, Momiji, Hatsuharu, and Rin. "I…" she started, but she couldn't get even one word out without bursting into a fresh stream of tears.

"Relax, Miss Tohru…" Yuki rubbed her shoulder affectionately, but she just buried her face into his shirt. He had no choice but to just sit there with his arms around her while everyone awkwardly stared. _Any minute now… they'll be asking why I haven't transformed…_ Yuki thought miserably.

Upon hearing the commotion, Kyo burst into the room, followed shortly after by Hiro, Hatori, and Shigure.

"Tohru!" Kyo and Shigure exclaimed, oblivious to Yuki for the moment.

"What's wrong?" Hatori snapped, glaring at everyone as if they were being accused of murder.

How ironic.

Tohru was embarrassed, and tried to hide her face in Yuki's shirt. Surely it was just a trick of the light. Surely she had imagined it. _Why did I have to scream? Why did I have to draw this crowd? I'm alive… there's nothing wrong… oh dear…_

Yuki sighed and stared up at everyone innocently, while it dawned on Rin.

"Yuki… why haven't you transformed?" she asked quietly, inching away from Haru but finding it difficult when she was against the wall.

The silence pounded in his ears as he tried to think of an excuse. "I…" he started. How was he supposed to know? He hated their stares. They were staring at him like he had murdered someone.

That was it.

They had stopped talking to him because they all thought he was the murderer.

"…don't know," he finished lamely.

_I need to get out… I need to escape…_

Kyo parted the crowd and crouched down next to Tohru. "Tohru?" he whispered, his heart beating loudly. Tohru looked up, still covering her face with her hands but peering between her fingers. "Do you care if I hug you?"

Tohru shook her head as Yuki stood up and stepped away. If Kyo still transformed, he would be stuck. Framed. Cornered. Caught.

Chest pounding still, Kyo extended his arms, embarrassed, and tried to hug Tohru. As he wrapped his arms around her, his stomach began to feel sick, and in a split second…

…he was a cat.

Yuki sighed in frustration and anger, trying to hold back tears as the family stared at him in horror.

"You think I'm the murderer, don't you?" he whispered, his voice cracking.

Those with enough courage nodded slightly.

"Well… I admit… Yeah, I was at the Main House on December 10th. But I didn't know that… I… I would never hurt Miss Tohru. It wasn't me who tried to kill Tohru, it was Kureno. It I had come in only a second later… she would be dead. I know you don't believe me… but fine. I didn't do it."

"Liar," Kyo hissed, once again a clothed human.

For a moment, everyone turned their attention to Tohru. She was still on the floor sobbing, but for the first time, they noticed that she was clutching one of her blue hair ribbons between her hands. On the right side, her hair had been cut off on one side to about two inches below her chin. A sliver of a cut glistened blood on the side of her neck, right where her hair ended. The remainder of her hair lay limply on her bed's pillow.

"Whatever, Kyo. Solve the mystery yourself. But it wasn't me. As I far as I know, Akito's not even dead."

With that, Yuki bolted out of the room.

"Tohru-kun… was it Yuki?" Hatori dared to ask. The only sound that could be heard was the whistling wind outside and the sound of anxious breathing.

"I don't… no. It wasn't," Tohru answered firmly, "It… the person was too big to be Yuki. He… he didn't murder anyone, you guys, I don't think anybody here did. Just think about it… Yuki? A murderer?"

"I wonder if he's okay…" Haru said quietly, the only person hearing him being Rin.

"I don't know what to think anymore," Rin sighed, her confusion and wanting to help Haru taking over her as she slowly drifted out of the room. "All I know is that this is definitely not a game anymore."

-+-

"Hey, hey Haru?"

"What?" Hatsuharu grunted at Ritsu as they entered their bedroom after dinner. Whatever Ritsu had to say wasn't important to him now. He lay down on his bed, thoughts chasing each other around his head. What had changed with Rin? Why did she seem to hate his guts all of a sudden? _And what's with her and Yuki?_ _What did she say before…?_ _She's doing what's best for me. What a lie. I want her… I want her back…_

"Well… do you think Isuzu-chan is upset?"

Haru raised an eyebrow as he sat up and pulled the cover back. "Why would she be…?"

"Well… everyone's accusing Yuki of being the murderer."

"Why would Rin care?"

"Oh… gomen nasai… but I thought they were dating?"

Haru snapped.

"WHAT?" he demanded, feeling his palms sweat as he stood up.

"Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! I accidentally went in their room yesterday and I saw them sleeping together…"

"WHAT?"

"Gomen nasai! Oh please, Mr. Black Haru-san, please don't be angry! They looked so cute and… OH CURSE MY MOUTH THAT CANNOT KEEP ITSELF SHUT! GOMEN NASAI! GOMEN NASAI TO EVERY UNFORTUNATE SOUL THAT HAS CROSSED MY WRETCHED PATH! NO, HARU-SAN! KUDASAI, NO!"

At this point, Black Haru had become so angry that he had turned both beds over and knocked anything else standing down, including Ritsu. The room was completely destroyed before he stormed into the closet and tried to open the door, but found it locked. Continuing in his rage, he stormed into the hall and tried to open Yuki and Rin's door from there. That too was locked.

"DAMMIT! WHAT THE HELL?" he screamed, and began to destroy the hallway while Ritsu, bent over on his knees, apologized over and over again.

Half of the main hallway was unrecognizable before Momiji had the sense to throw a bucket of ice water on him.

-+-

"Don't leave."

Yuki turned from his spot in front of the open window to see Rin in the doorway. She closed the door and locked it, the breeze from the outside world gently brushing through her hair.

There were tears in her eyes, and miserable thoughts in her head.

_To make Haru happy…_

"Rin, I have to…"

"No," she said, her voice shaking. "You can't. I know you didn't do it. So does everybody else."

"You don't understa—"

"I understand more than you do. Close the window."

Yuk turned back to the window and stared at it silently. Slowly, he picked up his bag filled with belongings… He tried to ignore her….

"No!"

Rin ran across the room and shoved Yuki into the wall, making him drop his bag. "You're not… leaving here. You're not… leaving me alone," she decided, trapping him with her arms as a river of tears dripped down her face.

_What am I doing?_

"Calm down…" Yuki cooed, silently wondering why he was always the one comforting those who were upset, but secretly glad that Rin was so close to him.

"Don't leave, Yuki, please, don't…"

"It's okay, Rin, I'm right here," Yuki whispered. "Why… don't you want me to leave? I thought you didn't like me."

_But Haru does…_

"I don't!" she cried, but corrected herself quickly. "I mean… I didn't. Before. But… now… I want you… to…"

"…I… think… I…"

Yuki's last two words were left unsaid, because Rin forced herself to lean forward and kiss him. Both of them were so distracted that they could not have noticed anything else, even if Black Haru just happened to be throwing a tantrum outside their door.

-+-

"Hiro… Hiro! What are you doing?"

Kyo stood at the doorway as Hiro threw up into the waste basket in their room.

"Sorry… Kyo… I don't… know… uhh…"

Kyo grimaced as he threw up even more.

"Do you have the flu?" Kyo could feel himself backing away. There was no way he wanted to get sick.

"It's weird," Hiro threw up again, "It doesn't feel like I'm sick, but I just don't feel right."

"…Want to go to Hatori's?"

"…Yeah. Thanks."

However, Hiro and Kyo could not go to Hatori, because at the precise moment they reached the door, someone in the room across from theirs screamed.

"KAGURA!"

-+-

"Tohru-kun, this is very important," Hatori looked Tohru in the eye across the table.

"Im_por_tant!" Ayame shrieked in a sing-song voice from his bed.

"_AYA_, would you _please_ leave us alone?" Hatori pleaded.

"OOO! Mr. Snuggle-Pants wants to be alone with Tohru-chan!" Ayame squealed. He opened the door to the closet, but thought it was the door to the hallway, so he just shrugged it off and sat in the dark closet for a little bit.

"Now that that fool is gone…" Hatori mumbled. "Okay, I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Start with when you woke up."

"Well… I was really tired… so I sslept until tthe afternoon… when I woke up, I sat up and tthere was someone standing over me…" Tohru shuddered. "I yelled… then someone… I guess Yuki… came in and shouted at the man. The knife he had only cut me a little bit."

"Where did the man go?"

"He jumped out the window."

"And what's the deal with Yuki? How come he can hug you?"

"I don't know… a couple of days ago I was upset because Kureno wouldn't help me with the clues, so Yuki tried to comfort me… he accidentally hugged me and I didn't transform."

"Today… do you think he was telling the truth?"

"I don't think Yuki-kun would—"

"HATORI!"

Hiro and Kyo burst into the room. "Hatori! Someone down the hall was screaming!" Hiro panted. Confused and somewhat afraid, Tohru and Hatori followed Kyo and Hiro to Kagura and Kisa's room.

"KAGURA!" Kisa screamed again, but once she saw Tohru enter the room, she ran to her, crying.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Hatori panted, and Kisa and Kagura pointed to their two beds.

There seemed to be nothing wrong.

"Is there a spider…?" Kyo suggested.

"Pull… back… the cover…" Kagura told Hatori, clinging onto Kyo, much to Kyo's disgust.

Still confused, Hatori pulled back both of the bed's covers simultaneously.

He saw the problem.

Stuck into each girl's mattress were multiple knives, some of which were bloody, in the shape of an 'X'.

Hiro threw up into Kisa and Kagura's trash can.

"This is not good," Kyo decided.

Hatori thought it was strange that Hiro would get sick. Nobody had been out of the house in days and nobody else was sick…

Poison?

Planted bacteria?

"This isn't a game anymore," Hatori remember what Rin had said. "Somebody is trying to kill all of us."

-+-

"_Did you kill the girl?"_

"_Failure."_

"_The small boy?"_

"_No."_

"_The two brats?"_

"_The slut?"_

"…"

"_Anyone?"_

"_No."_

"_WHAT ARE YOU GOOD FOR? NOTHING? I THOUGHT SO! KILL THEM! ALL OF THEM! I DON'T CARE HOW, JUST DO IT!"_

"_Yes."_

_He bowed his head and stalked away, angry that he had been chosen as the 'servant'._


	8. Things That Shouldn't Be There

**Chapter Eight: Things That Shouldn't Be There**

"Have you talked to Yuki at all?"

Rini looked at her eldest son with a look that just said 'are you kidding'?

Ayame sighed, "I bet it would make him feel a whole lot better. I mean… back in that dark room after everything he's gone through…"

"Ayame, just stop it. We came here to discuss your clues, not to waste words on that pathetic little…"

Rini stopped, seeing the slightly angry look on Ayame's face. "Never mind. Well... let's see what you have."

Ayame pushed the papers in front of her, some that had to have been remade after Hatori lost them. Two clues, _Am _and _Tricked_ had come earlier that morning.

"So… have you thought about what they might mean?"

"No…"

"Well, what do you think they mean?"

"…I thought you were going to tell me, mother…"

"Do you have a brain, Ayame? There you go again, wasting my time!"

Rini stood up angrily and headed for the door.

"Mother?"

She turned around again.

"You're supposed to meet with Yuki and Rin today, right?"

Rini sighed. "Yes, Ayame."

"Can you… go easy on him, okay?"

Rini rolled her eyes and left the room.

-+-

"That's… I just can't even… we have to do something!"

As Hatori had expected, Kohatio didn't really seem very surprised at the news that the murderer was at it again. Hatori didn't need any of Ayame's clues. He knew that this man, this "Sam Kohatio" was the murderer, hands down.

"So what do you think we should do?" Hatori pressed.

"Oh, well, certainly, this needs to be taken care of _right away_," Kohatio stroked his abnormally large mustache in thought. "I know! We'll have everyone clean out their rooms and dispose of everything suspicious!"

"Alright…" Hatori forced a fake smile, and turned on his heel to tell everyone of the cleaning.

-+-

Kureno Sohma had been gone for three days.

He hadn't left, really. He was in hiding.

But nobody could find him.

That was good. After the incident with that Honda girl, practically everyone in the house thought he was the murderer.

But he wasn't.

He couldn't tell anyone that without getting murdered himself, though. He needed a plan.

And the answer was right in that very room.

-+-

"I like your haircut, Tohru."

Tohru forced a kind smile at Momiji as they searched he and Shigure's room for anything that wasn't supposed to be there. Tohru did not want to think about the short hair that Kagura had fixed up for her. It only made her think of that terrible day that was still so fresh in her mind.

Tohru turned at Momiji's scream.

"This… this isn't supposed to be here!"

She peered into the box Momiji had taken out from under his bed.

It contained a gun.

A _loaded_ gun.

"Put it down!" she cried, and Momiji set the box down on the bed, slowly backing away from it.

"HATSUHARU! COME BACK!"

Momiji and Tohru were distracted from the new discovery as Black Haru came flailing down the hallway with Yuki following and screaming.

"HARU! CALM DOWN!" Yuki screamed at the angry boy as he slammed himself into the front door and pounded on it furiously to no avail. Some of the snow had melted, but still not enough to get the door open.

"LEAVE ME ALONE, DAMN RAT!" Black Haru yelled, going for a punch but missing.

"Haru-san! Yuki-kun!" Tohru exclaimed, and Momiji attempted to hold Black Haru down foolishly.

It was hopeless.

"You KNOW I like her! You KNOW I ALWAYS HAVE! SO WHAT DO YOU DO? YOU TAKE HER! I THOUGHT YOU UNDERSTOOD! I THOUGHT YOU HATED HER!" Haru couldn't concentrate on fighting and yelling at the same time. Yuki blocked his every attempt to strike.

"Hatsuharu! She's just a girl! Why are you getting so worked up over her?"

"BECAUSE I LOVE HER, YOU DAMN IDIOT!"

"Is it possible to refrain from making so much noise?"

Yuki let his guard down at the sound of his mother's cold voice and Haru punched him in the stomach.

"Don't you know you're supposed to be cleaning out your rooms?" Rini snapped, and Haru was no longer Black after punching Yuki so hard and hearing a different voice from down the hall.

"We have been."

Rin stood at the end of the hallway with a box similar to Momiji's in her hands.

"And Rini, I know you don't like your son very much, but could you quit leaving these explosives under his bed? It's getting rather annoying."

-+-

Both Kisa and Kagura refused to enter their room.

They knew it was kind of silly, but they just couldn't. It was too frightening, even after both Hatori and Kyo had searched a million times for anything else that wasn't supposed to be there. Neither of them wanted to play the game anymore, not after all of the things that had happened in the strange house. Both wanted to go home.

"There you are," Shigure grunted as he set the last of Kagura and Kisa's things on the pile in Kyo and Hiro's room. "We'll look for some more beds… It may get a little crowded in here, but it's the best we can do…"

"I'LL SHARE A BED WITH KYO—"

"Thanks, Shigure," Kyo mumbled, cutting off Kagura quickly in annoyance.

"Kyo… did you clean your room?"

Kyo looked down at Kisa, who stared up at him with worried eyes. He, of course, had not _cleaned_ his room, but he knew that wasn't what Kisa meant. Kisa meant, in Hatori's words, had he 'disposed of anything that wasn't supposed to be there'.

"Everything's fine, Kisa-chan," he mumbled, ruffling her hair and still not wanting to share the room with either of them.

Shigure smiled reassuringly and Hiro entered the room with Hatori following behind.

Kagura backed away immediately at the sight of the sick boy, but Kisa instead moved forward and touched his hand. "Are you better, Hiro?" she asked sweetly.

"I ain't contagious," Hiro told them. "Food poisoning."

"Not food poisoning," Hatori reminded him, "Poison in your food."

-+-

Ritsu sat alone in the dining room, away from the noise and distractions of everyone else. He chose to spend this rare peaceful time studying his textbooks. The college professor would never forgive him if he came back from winter break and had forgotten everything.

He tried to focus on his government research, but found himself distracted. He could hear a noise, but he didn't know what it was. He would've said it was coming from the room next door, but there _was_ no room next door, aside from the empty kitchen. Spontaneously, he put his ear to the ground.

Yes.

He could hear it.

It was coming from _under_ him.

Screaming.

Yelling.

Arguing.

Someone getting hurt?

Ritsu desperately looked around. How was he supposed to get to the room below him?

Unless…

There was a secret staircase?

Ritsu stood up and scanned the floor with his eyes. He didn't know the Main House well enough to be sure, but the room was floored with hard wood, none of which looked loose or trap-door like. As he took a step forward, he tripped over one of his inconveniently placed text books. To catch his fall, he put his hands out and contacted with the white wall next to a large tapestry bearing the Japanese characters for the zodiac.

Tapestry!

That was it!

The staircase could've been hiding behind the tapestry!

Slowly, he lifted up the zodiac tapestry and looked behind it.

Yes, that was it.

Smiling yet nervous, Ritsu felt his way down the dark, cold, stone staircase.


	9. Sohma Family Meeting

**Chapter Nine: Sohma Family Meeting**

"You're stupid! You _ass_! _I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU COULDN'T BE MORE SURREPTITIOUS ABOUT IT!_"

"You said you didn't care how—"

"_I KNOW WHAT I SAID! YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU PUT A GUN IN THE KID'S ROOM HE'S GOING TO DIE? DO YOU HAVE A BRAIN? AT LEAST RINI HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL WITH SCARING THE BRAT AND THE TWO GIRLS AFTER THE JOB WAS TOO HARD FOR YOU! RINI HAS BEEN LOYAL! ARE YOU AFRAID? ARE YOU AFRAID FOR YOUR OWN SKIN?_"

"I can't—"

"_I'VE SUPPLIED YOU WITH EVERYTHING! THE POISON, THE WEAPONS, AND STILL YOU CAN'T CARRY OUT THE JOB! ARE YOU HELPLESS? ARE YOU DEAF? CAN YOU HEAR ME?** I WANT THEM DEAD! ALL OF THEM! KILL THEM!**_"

"I've been trying, but—"

"_BUT NOTHING! YOU ARE WORTHLESS TO ME! I AWARD YOU SUCH A GREAT HONOR AND YOU DO NOTHING! YOU DO NOT DESERVE LIFE!_"

"No!" Ritsu screamed from the bottom of the staircase. The two quarreling figures turned around in shock of the kimono-wearing college student. "Please, Kohatio-san! Don't hurt Kureno-san!"

Kohatio dropped Kureno and bolted into Ritsu. "You heard nothing, you got that, you stupid monkey?" Kohatio hissed. "You're going to go back upstairs and tell no one of what you saw. GOT IT?"

"Yes, yes! Gomenasai! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Ritsu darted back up the stairs to his room without a word to anyone.

-+-

The hallway was silent until Rin dropped the large box on the ground.

"What are you saying?" Rini demanded, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the horse.

"_I'm saying…_ quit leaving your crap in our room. It's pointless. I mean… it's not like it's going to explode without being lighted…"

A devious smile spread over the teen's face. "Unless you were just putting it there to make it look like Yuki has a lot of dangerous crap in his room that he likes to cheerfully distribute around the house…"

Rini's glare became even more evil. "You have no proof… why… you…"

"I _saw_ you, bitch. That proof enough? I was sitting in the corner of the room this morning. It must've been so dark that you couldn't see me. Shame."

Yuki and Tohru stared at Rini, Haru and Momiji staring at Rin. Rini was backed into a corner she couldn't get out of…

…with words.

She simply turned around and went back into her room, locking it behind her.

"That's right," Rin snickered. "Run and hide."

"Yuki… does you mother really… hate you that much?" Momiji whispered.

Yuki stared at the ground, denying the tears that were welling up in his eyes. "I don't know," he sighed. "She was pretty mad at me… on the day Akito died. We had a fight. I got mad… I told her I hated her. I told her to go to hell. I told her she was a bitch.

"And I was happy. I had wanted to do that for so long. I felt… free. But somehow, she changed everything. It's her fault half this house thought I was the murderer. But I think… I think that if Akito didn't kill himself, my mother killed him. And now she's trying to kill us all."

After a moment of silence, Hatsuharu nodded and began walking toward the staircase, brushing passed Rin on his way there.

"Where do you think you're going?" she cooed quietly so that he was the only one who heard her.

"Hatori-nii. I think it's time for another Sohma Family Meeting."

-+-

13 individuals sat in a large circle on the floor of the same library with the huge window most everyone remembered from just two days before.

"Your clues."

Everyone looked around at each other. They had all been so preoccupied with their own problems the passed two days that only Ayame and Hatori had paid attention to their second set. Hatori repeated himself, and only Rin stood up to speak.

"I say screw it!" she declared, standing up from her spot between Yuki and Momiji. "I don't give a damn, and I'm sure nobody else does! I say we screw this damn game, jump out the window, and go home! Who's with me?"

Most everyone slowly raised their hands.

"Rin, calm down," Hatori said calmly. "What I think is going on here is lack of communication. Obviously, nobody is going to come forward and say they murdered someone, but how about, without offending anyone, we share our suspicions?"

"We can't," Haru said slowly. "It's against the rules. We can't share our suspicions with anyone but our partners."

"Screw the rules, dammit!"

"It's Yuki!"

Kyo stood up and pointed at the shocked rat.

"My brother would never do such a thing!" Ayame yelled as Hiro shouted "We already know it's not!" and the family became restless.

There was a mass uproar at Kyo's declaration, and Yuki just sat quietly. He made eye contact with Rin and shook his head as if saying _'I swear it wasn't me.'_

'_I know,'_ she replied with a nod, and sat down again, crossing her arms so he wouldn't try to hold her hand or something.

"QUIET!" Hatori bellowed, and everyone quickly obeyed. "Yuki, do you have anything to defend yourself?"

"Yes," Yuki sighed. Rin tried not to look at him. "I think it was… my mother. She put explosives under my bed."

"Yuki! Why would you say such a thing?" Ayame gasped.

"What if…" Hatori couldn't think of anything to say.

"I saw her," Rin swallowed. "It was that bitch Rini."

"But what if she was going for Rin?" Shigure asked. "She could've put it under the wrong bed."

"She knew it was Yuki's," Rin admitted, "because she had already messed with mine. I don't know what it was, but she put some crap on my bed. Pesticides or poison or something to get me sick. She figured she didn't need to mess with me if there was already something wrong."

"But Rin-chan, you're not sick. Maybe you're imagining it," Kagura pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm not sick because I don't sleep there, duh."

"Then where do you sleep?" Haru tested, even though Ritsu had already told him the answer.

Rin sighed as she turned her head so she wouldn't have to look at anyone. "With Yuki."

An uproar.

"QUIET!" Hatori commanded again, and silence commenced. "We can deal with that later. Now, Yuki, what you're saying is that Rini is the murderer, and the one who's been attempting it again."

"Yes," Yuki whispered. "Or…"

"…Sam Kohatio-san."

Everyone in the room turned to stare at the timid Ritsu.

"Tomorrow," Hatori cleared his throat, suppressing a smirk. "Tomorrow is the final results meeting. What everyone needs to do now is go back and read their clues. And tomorrow… we may know the truth."


	10. Results

**Chapter Ten: Results**

Waiting again.

The thirteen waited nervously in the library room the next day, all afraid of what the afternoon had in store for them. December 20th. They had lived at the Main House for a little over a week, but it felt like an eternity. At that moment, there was only one thing on everyone's mind: going home. The events that had occurred at the Main House were ones that were not wished to be relived.

Seeing Rini and Kohatio enter the room, Hiro sat down at his table next to Kyo. Under Hatori's instruction, he had been examining the bookcase quite thoroughly…

"Order!" Kohatio boomed as if it were a court room, wearing a coat that was far too large for him despite the fact that the heater was on. In his hand was the infamous manila envelope. A silence ensued. "Here's how today is going to work."

There were seven tables positioned in a circle around the room. Each person and their partner sat at a table, with the exception of one. Tohru sat alone.

Kohatio and Rini stood in the center of the room, under the elaborate chandelier that hung from the ceiling.

"One at a time, each pair will share their answer. Whoever is right wins, obviously. The answer lies in this envelope, and perhaps in one of you!

"And so, let us start with our dear friends, Hatori and Ayame."

Hatori looked around before standing up and clearing his throat. "After careful consideration and analyzing, we have chosen Sam Kohatio as the murderer of Akito Sohma."

Kohatio's devilish grin slid into a grimace as Rini wrote his name down on her green clipboard.

Shigure and Momiji were next. Momiji chose to stand. "Kureno," he said in a choked whisper. There was an explanation behind the reasoning, but Momiji couldn't bring himself to say it.

"It's that damn rat!" Kyo declared without standing up. Both Yuki and Hiro rolled their eyes.

Forgetting their _real_ answer of Kureno, Kagura screamed "Yeah!" and Yuki received another vote.

"This is ridiculous," Yuki whispered to Rin. "Just because somebody gets more votes then somebody else doesn't make them the murderer."

"Oh shut up with your whining," Rin snapped. Yuki searched her face for a smirk, a smile, anything, but her face was blank, and she was staring straight forward.

She had slept on the floor the night before.

"Are you… mad at me?" he dared to ask.

Rin turned to roll her eyes at him. "No, dumbass, I don't mind being embarrassed in front of Har—I mean, the whole family because now he—_they_ think we're _dating_ or something!"

Yuki stared back as Tohru quietly announced she thought the murderer was Kureno. "You… like… Haru…" he confirmed, his voice dropping significantly on the last word.

"…yes," Rin admitted, too embarrassed to admit that she had just been toying with him. "I don't like you. I don't know what I've been doing, trying to flirt with you and stuff, but I don't like you that way and I doubt I ever will."

Both looked away, Rin mad at whatever had come out of her mouth. It was possible that there wasn't a word of truth in anything she had said.

But Yuki didn't know that.

He stared at the table, mad that he had _ever_ considered asking her to be his girlfriend as none other than Hatsuharu rose to give his table's answer.

"It's me," Hatsuharu said. "Since none of us have any clue who it is, I'm going to say that it was me, Hatsuharu Sohma."

"What?"

"Yes. Me," Haru answered Kohatio's quizzical look. "So anyway, we vote for Haru, because neither of us gives a crap about Akito. He could be listening to my every word and I wouldn't give a shit."

"Oh Haru… he is…" Rin whispered, and Yuki turned his head to look at her.

"What?" he hissed.

"The bastard's not dead."

It was possibly the first true thing she had told him in a while.

While Yuki was still confused, Rin took a note pad and pen out of her purse.

_A K I T O S O H M A_

_S A M K O H A T I O,_

she wrote, connecting each same letter.

"When… when did you figure this out?" Yuki whispered.

"A while ago. I mean, come on, the guy couldn't have been more obvious with the name."

Kohatio cleared his throat and both Yuki and Rin looked up. "We're waiting," he told them, before noticing what was on the paper.

"AKITO!" Yuki yelled.

_Click!_

"You're all wrong, idiots," Kohatio pulled out the shot gun that had been hiding in his large coat and pulled a second out for Rini.

"Now wait just a minute…" Hatori started before Rini held the gun to his forehead.

"Spreading rumors, are we? Come with me, Isuzu," Kohatio commanded, pointing his gun against her forehead.

"Yuki… maybe… I… lied," Rin hissed through her teeth. "I… don't… hate… you…"

"I know," Yuki understood what she meant.

"Rini Sohma… did you murder Akito?"

Rini smirked at Hatori's question and simultaneously, she and Kohatio pointed their guns at the occupants of the room. The girls screamed as Rini shot down the chandelier and it fell in the middle of the Sohma Circle, sending shattered glass everywhere.

_There's no way out!_ Yuki thought desperately as the rubble was blocking the doorway. _We're all going to be killed!_

_Unless…_

"Kyo! Haru!" he shouted across the chaotic room to his cousins. "Get to the window!"

After briefly shooting Rin an apologetic look, he met with his cousins in front of the paned glass. "We need to get everyone out," he winced at the sound of the bullets and screams. "Get the windows open. Get everyone out."

All three boys tried with no luck to unlock the large windows. Either it was impossible to open—which was unlikely because Shigure had just days prior to this incident—or the cold from outside mixed with the heat from inside had sealed it. Yuki desperately tried to warm the lock, praying for their lives, before screaming and punching through the glass with his bare fists.

Although his hands and arms were cut up to an extreme extent, he had done it. There was a hole large enough to climb through.

But… what was that smell?

-+-

He would open the lid, throw it into the air vent, and run out of the house.

That was the plan.

For the last time, Kureno turned the air-tight case over and over in his hands.

Zyklon-B.

Solid gas.

As soon as it touched air, the crystal turned into a gas so deadly, the longest person to withstand it had only lasted five minutes.

That would show Akito. That would show that spoiled brat that he was worthy. Until he died, of course…

Kureno took a deep breath, opened the case, dumped it into the air vent, and bolted out of the house.

-+-

Yuki turned around again, coughing. He had heard somebody scream. A girl.

Kyo and Haru had also broken the windows open, and one by one, everyone in the room but two jumped out.

As soon as Rin's feet hit the newly fallen snow, she ran.

She ran so fast and hard that to try and catch her would be foolish and stupid.

She ran like a horse. She ran in fear, afraid of what she had just done.

Haru was desperately trying to help Momiji while he watched her, along with Hiro carrying Kisa running behind them. Yes, the candle Hatori had told Hiro to place on the bookshelf had finally caught. Smoke poured out of the Main House.

"Kyo! Help Tohru!" Hatori shouted to the mop of gasping orange hair in front of him as he ran alongside the two other Mabudachi. Tohru was last out of the house, even further behind than Ritsu and Kagura. Kyo looked over his should at Tohru. She was wobbling back and forth as she tried to run in a straight line. Just watching her made Kyo dizzy…

She fell over.

"Tohru!" Kyo exclaimed, doubling back and just barely catching her before she hit the ground. He had known by the smell that the room had somehow been filled with poison gas. He just hoped Tohru hadn't inhaled too much…

"Kyo?" her eyes fluttered open and Kyo sighed in relief.

Her face was so close to his…

"Hi, Tohru," he said stupidly, blushing.

"Thank you, Kyo," Tohru whispered, and gave him a weak kiss on the cheek.

Kyo's face burned, but as she fell back asleep, he picked her up and darted after everyone else to Shigure's house.

-+-

"Rin… are you--?"

"I'm sorry, Haru!"

Rin and Hatsuharu were the first ones to arrive at Shigure's house. Rin was on the other side of the porch, opposite Haru, her tears nearly freezing to her face. "I'm sorry I've been trying to ignore you, I'm sorry about all the shit with Yuki… I'm sorry, okay? Please, Haru, don't hate me!"

Haru stepped forward and drew her into a hug she wanted more than anything. "When did you get so soft?" he muttered. Rin never cried… at least… not the Rin _he_ knew. He stepped back and looked at Rin as if she were a total stranger, his hands on her shoulders.

Technically, she _was_.

_She's changed so much…_ Haru thought.

_Why didn't I realize it before?_

"I'm sorry too, Rin. I guess I was just so mad that I kind of got carried away. I mean… Yuki?"

"I don't like him. I just… and Akito…"

"Akito's gone, Rin," Haru whispered, nuzzling her cheek with his nose, warming her chilled face with his breath. "You don't have to try to protect me."

"He wasn't before…" she mumbled as their cold lips locked and Haru's arms were the only thing keeping her standing. Everytime she saw his she had yearned for that kiss… and now she was completely speechless. He was right. She didn't have to feel guilty about this kiss. Akito was dead because of her. Her eyes were shutting, Haru was kissing her even more deeply, and everything seemed the nearest to perfect that it had in a while… until Yuki came.

"Haru? What's going on?"

Yuki caught up, followed by Momiji and the Mabudachi Trio. Seeing Haru kiss her life that… he felt so awed and miserable at the same time.

"I'm sorry, Yuki," Rin sighed, and pulled herself away from Haru to give Yuki a quick hug. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"

"Rin, stop. You sound like Ritchan!" Ayame giggled, and he and Shigure held a good, hearty laugh. It felt nice to be able to laugh after everything that had happened at the Main House.

"I'M SORRY!"

Ritsu had caught up, followed by Kagura, Hiro, Kisa, and eventually Kyo and Tohru.

"So… we're safe," Kyo declared, panting hard.

"For now…" Yuki thought he heard Hatori whisper, but he couldn't be sure over Rin's sobs.

"Did you… say something, Ayame? Ritsu?" Kagura asked, looking around.

"I thought Hatori said it," Momiji said.

"But I thought it was Shigure…" Ayame put in.

The click of a gun being loaded could be heard behind a nearby tree.


	11. The Will

**Chapter Eleven: The Will**

"GET IN THE HOUSE!" Hiro and Hatori commanded simultaneously as a bullet was fired into the darkening sky.

Screams.

Kyo, Haru, and Yuki shoved everyone into the house, and once they were inside, Yuki quickly locked the front door, Rin and Haru staying close by. The three followed everyone up the stairs. Rin sat down between Haru and Yuki, shaking as Shigure and Hatori instructed everyone there to sit down, to stay away from doors as if it were a tornado.

_Maybe… he could be more like a friend,_ Rin thought as Haru held her hand tightly and rested his head on her frail shoulder. _I couldn't possibly love him _and_ Haru… but what have I done?_

"Who is that?" Kisa whispered through her tears as she clung to Hiro.

"Kureno," Hatori answered over the gunshots. "It has to be."

"It was me," Rin admitted in a whisper to Haru's ear, although everyone was so close together that she could easily be heard. "I killed him."

The gunshots stopped and there was a knock at the door.

"Should we… answer it?"

"Ayame, don't be stupid," Hatori hissed, standing up slowly.

"If we don't answer it…" Kyo's voice trailed off, not wanting to think about 'ifs'. Tohru mumbled something in her sleep on Kyo's lap. He had tried to stay as close to her as possible, but he couldn't imagine how a person could sleep at a time like this.

"Kyo!" Momiji exclaimed suddenly. Everyone in the hall looked up at Kyo, even Yuki, who was trying to tend to his glass cuts, and Haru, who was so relieved that Rin wasn't upset with him that he was trying to get as close to her as humanly possible. "Kyo! You can hug Tohru!"

It was true. Kyo looked down at her peaceful face and realized that he had been hugging her all along. And the strangest part was… Kagura was too shaken to say anything.

The knock became louder and Momiji's realization was forgotten.

"That's it," Hatori put his hands on his hips. "I'm seeing who it is."

"No! You can't go alone!" Ayame and Shigure declared, and stood up also.

Without another word from themselves or from the ones left in the hall, the Mabudachi went back downstairs.

"Rin," Hatsuharu broke the silence that ensued after the three had left. "What did you say before?"

Kagura and Ritsu looked up. They had heard what Rin had said before, and saw it happen at the Main House.

"I killed him," Rin repeated, louder this time. "I shot him. I shot him with his own gun. I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… please don't hate me…"

Yuki sat closer to her and kissed her forehead, hoping she didn't care that some of his blood had gotten on her. Rin now had Yuki and Haru hugging her so tightly, she could barely breathe.

"Kohatio," Ritsu said quietly. "He's… he's… A…"

"It's alright!" Hatori screamed from downstairs. "You can come down!"

Unsure, the Sohmas filed into Shigure's living room.

-+-

"This is Ren."

Hatori gestured to the afraid-looking woman standing in the doorway, clutching a package under her coat. The entire Sohma family sat down in Shigure's living room, sitting as close together as possible for comfort and warmth.

"I'm very sorry," Ren took the manila envelope out of her coat. "For all of the trouble my son has caused you."

"So what happened?" Kyo asked, absentmindedly stroking Tohru's hair. "I'm so confused."

There was a murmur of agreement.

Ren opened the envelope and turned the contents of it onto the table. "First we need to straighten this out."

She picked up a white slip of paper. "I haven't had time to look at this, but I've stolen it from _Kohatio's_ office quite a few times."

"Wait… How did you know when to get out of the house?" Kagura ventured to ask.

"Horoscope, my dear.

"If you didn't already notice or didn't care, your first clues were a throw off, aimed at the rat."

Yuki looked at the floor in embarrassment. Rin's tears had slowed down and she now lay against Yuki with Haru's hand still enveloping hers in a numb state of shock.

"Your clues were just a few sentences cut up and separated into envelopes."

"Sorry, Yuki," Momiji said quietly from across the room. Some others nodded. Now they were embarrassed that they were tricked into accusing Yuki of the crime. But that was just the genius of Akito.

"The paragraph reads:

"_Long ago, God held a banquet for the animals. The sneaky rat used the ox to get there first. Do you think our rat is any more trustworthy?"_

"In a way… Akito was smart," Kisa whispered. "He tried to make us think it was Yuki and we did."

_And the rat and the ox had conflicts in the past, like me and Yuki did with Rin at the House,_ Hatsuharu thought. _Ironic…_

"Well if it ain't Yuki, who is it?"

Kyo was right, to a few.

"Kohatio…" Rin whispered, but nobody heard her.

"Nobody really paid attention to their second clue, but this is what it reads:

"_I am not dead. My precious Juunishi are being tricked by their God. Too bad."_

"But why?" Ritsu was crying.

"Yeah!" Hiro agreed. "Why would he lock us up for so long if… it was all fake?"

"And if he's not dead…" Shigure trailed off in thought.

"He is now."

"It was just a game of torture," Yuki said. "He wanted to torture us for not mourning his 'death'. He wanted to see what we would say about him if we thought he wasn't there, so he created 'Sam Kohatio' to spy on us."

"And," Ren added. "He was trying to kill the entire zodiac in the process."

"And you know this because…?" Hatori stared at her with a furrowed brow.

"It's all right here. Rini was also trying to get me to join her, Kureno, and Akito in the task of killing everyone off."

"What happened to Kureno? Wasn't he the one firing shots into the air?" Hiro snapped.

"…never mind that now. Would you like me to read the will?"

Everyone nodded. They had forgotten. In the beginning, 'Kohatio' had said that the envelope contained Akito's will, but he had not read it.

"_My Dear Juunishi,_

"_If you are reading this, it most likely means that the game is over, and I am dead… for real, this time. I knew my plan was destined to fail. I knew that you would not die in these days I had originally planned. You love for one another is so strong, I feel that I can say without being blemished by lies, that even though you may not be related by blood, you can help each other and protect in ways that can hardly be called human._

"_Love is a strange thing, which I can honestly say I feel I haven't experienced in a very, very long time. It's different with all of you, because you were born to love me, but I now admit that I forced you into this game out of my own jealousy. I forced you into this game hoping that if I couldn't kill you myself, you would kill each other in hatred. I thought that by pairing you with ones you were not very familiar with, you would grow to hate them. The exact opposite happened. Some of you are even 'friends'._

"_So what do we do now?_

"_Although it is most unfortunate, you are all still cursed. Tomorrow, a new God will be born, and you will once again transform when you're hugged or weak. If there was a way to change this I suppose I might, but I don't know what that might be. I'm sorry._

"_As for the prized promised before the game started, there really isn't much I can do. The Estate is there for you to divide amongst yourselves as you wish, and so is the money. Liberation was a lie to make the more reluctant of you play along. _

"_This game, I confess, was also a form of suicide for me. I knew I would die. I wanted to. I knew none of you loved me, and I felt I had nothing to live for anymore. So now I have cut my life short and passed on to wherever it is that awful spirits go when they die._

"_Maybe your new God will not be so evil._

_-A.S., December 19th_

"It was all a lie," Kyo sighed, standing up again to read the paragraph about the curse. "We were lied to. All of this was a lie."

"So… although Rin was the one who shot Kohatio, Akito technically killed himself," Haru confirmed slowly.

"No."

Yuki stood up and took the paper from Kyo. "Don't you see? Maybe Rin _did_ kill him, but so did all of us. He only abused us because he was jealous of us. He was jealous that we could live without knowing we would die at a certain age. He was jealous of us, and no matter how sucky we feel out lives are, he's always had it worse. And he hated us for it. He tortured us, he tried to convince us we were lower than him just so he could feel superior. He hated us so much he wanted to die. It's not entirely our fault, but we cut his life short. The only thing he wanted was love, but he didn't know what that was, and because he didn't know how to give love, we could never give it to him."

Yuki sat down again. The whole room seemed to be fighting back tears as they contemplated all of what had come out of the Rat's mouth.

"So now…" Hatori started.

"…we're stuck," Rin finished. "We're stuck and there's no way out. We're damned forever to be cursed, and tomorrow the new god'll come and we'll be back at Square One."


	12. Epilogue: Mayumi

**Epilogue: Mayumi**

"Here she is. Akito's closest new relative by blood. Mayumi."

Yuki and Tohru peered into the cradle at the baby, a sleeping girl with rosy cheeks and a wisp of blonde hair. "She's so cute!" Tohru exclaimed. Yuki, however, was not as thrilled. No matter how cute this baby was, she was still the new God, and he was still afraid of her. He knew it was silly to be frightened of such a small child, but he couldn't help but fear that she might be as harsh as Akito. And that would be a very sad thing.

"Kyo, you have to come see her!" Tohru smiled at Kyo, who was leaning against the wall on the other side of the room. Kyo wondered if she remembered the week before at all, when he had finally been able to hug her, just once…

"Why would I want to see a stupid baby?" Kyo snapped, but Yuki felt it was more than Kyo's disliking of children. He knew Kyo had the same doubts as him.

"Hi," Rin said as she entered the room, Haru behind her, holding her hand. She smiled at Yuki. Rin and Haru had become more comfortable with people seeing them together, and thanks to Yuki, it seemed like Rin had found herself again.

"What are you doing here?" Kyo spat at her.

"Shove it, baka neko," she glared at him before looking into the cradle. "So… it's a girl? Well, I guess girls are nicer, right?"

"Then what happened to you, Rin-chan?" Shigure joked as he joined the crowd around the child. She smirked at him and rolled her eyes. "Hello, Ren," Shigure smiled pleasantly at the late Akito's mother. He peered into the cradle. "…So what did the parents say."

"They don't want her anymore," Ren sighed. The room went silent.

"Now what?"

"Well… Hatori-san and I talked it over… since the Main House is under construction from that fire, we think it may be best for Mayumi if she grew up… here."

Shigure looked shocked, but smiled at them. "What do you say guys?"

"Of course!" Tohru exclaimed.

"How the hell do you expect a bunch of men to raise a _life_?" Kyo spat.

"Well… we have Tohru-kun… and I'm sure we'll see Haru and Rin around here more often… so I don't see why not," Shigure accepted.

"Well then," Yuki smiled as Ren nodded and left the room. "Mayumi, welcome to the Sohma family."

**Jiendo**

**March 26, 2006 – May 8th, 2006**

**(Revisions – October 1st, 2006)

* * *

**

**It was SO HARD not to write author's notes at the beginning of every chapter. I wanted to keep it like that, to create more mystery, you know?**

**I'm actually quite proud of this story. It's the first mystery I've ever actually finished. I feel like I could've done more with it, but it is the way it is.**

**Storyteller May/Teh Future Mrs. Kyo Sohma/Nefertiti Akito/Winter's Bite/Hatori Sohma's Wife/midnight shadow 333/YueYoukaiEclipse/AKITO. At The Disco/alli/PerplexedKiss/otaku dreamer/Suiryoka/Gothic Manga Freak/beautifulhate/Winter's Light/The Cucumber Lady/Kaze no Namidawa/KAGURALOVER/watevr/Serinity's angel/Sake Bottle Swing/Mikomi-Kiyoko/Silentlamb/xCrimsonxBlackxBloodx/Musa Rox/Daelaeyni/Peace Out…./Idiotidiot and anyone else who reviews after this. Thank you all so much! **

**Stay tuned for more stories… believe me, there will be many!**

**Brenna**

**+The Girly Man+**

**Happy birthday, Debbie-chan! We love you! YAY!**

**Kind of Fun-ish Fact: This story originally ended with the Rin and Yuki pairing, but as people were saying that was a HORRIBLE thing, I realized that it was UTTERLY HORRIBLE RINXHARU FOR EVAHHHHH. So I rewrote the last five or so chapters so it was RinxHaru instead. Hehe.**


End file.
